March 19, 2023 – Lent 4A

“As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”” John 9:1-7, 13-17

How do we help others see – or how do we see more clearly ourselves? Well, I would say that it begins with learning to reframe what we see, and how we see. This is, you see, what causes a stumbling block for the Pharisees. They cannot “reframe” what they see – Jesus is too human, too much of a sinner to be the Messiah. A man born blind states that Jesus has healed him. And rather than congratulate him, or celebrate with great joy, or thank God for this miracle, they get hung up on the fact that Jesus healed him on the Sabbath. You see for Jesus to make mud, he needed to mix his saliva (which, by the way, it was believed that saliva had healing powers in the time of Jesus) he mixed his saliva with dirt. That required mixing, and kneading, like kneading dough to make bread, and that was a violation of the “Sabbath Rules”, which it seems to me is just ridiculous. But that is my 21st century understanding – which is different from a 1st century Jewish understanding. In their logic, Jesus is a sinner, and if a sinner, he could not be from God. It is a real conundrum. Could they reframe their vision, their view of how God wants to work in the world? Obviously not, because they will eventually put Jesus to death for sedition, insurrection – for claiming to be the Messiah, and threatening the good order of their established religious teachings.

Take time this Lent to Pray that your relationship with Jesus helps to move you from darkness to light, from blindness to sight, from confusion to insight. Jesus says “I am the light of the world”. Paul says as “Children of Light” we need to live that way – he actually says that if we are going to talk the talk, then we better “walk the walk”. In other words, we should use this time in Lent to understand what it means to live as Christ calls us to live: not in darkness, not in isolation, not looking to meet our own needs, but in the light of goodness, righteousness and truth. We can only discern that kind of living by discerning our own behaviors, priorities, and prejudices. We are called to see the light of Christ in everyone – EVERYONE. And if we live in the light of Christ, then we need to discern if we do see, really see the needs of our neighbors, our community, and our world? Jesus asks the man who was formerly blind this eternal question: “Do you believe?” If you and I do believe, then shouldn’t we seek to invite a friend to come and see – invite a stranger to come and see – because, you SEE, here the lost are found, and the blind, well now they can see…they can see the love of Christ in Word, Water, Bread, Wine, and loving, caring, joy-filled people.

Pastor Dave

March 18, 2023 — The Doors of Generosity

“He (Jesus) looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them, for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.” Luke 21:1-4

 “I am sure that you come across opportunities to be generous almost every day, and if you fail to respond to those opportunities, who knows what rivers will not flow, what great ministries will never come to birth, what mighty things will not get done? God has opened the door of generosity to you; don’t fail to open up the doors of generosity to others. – Selwyn Hughes (1928-2006)

“If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern.” (William Blake (1757-1827), The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, circa 1790)

What are the doors of our perception? I would say that we see through glasses thick with the lenses of experiences we think are formative. But what do we really perceive if we choose only to gaze upon the trees that adorn our own yard or country church graveyard? We may think we are generous when we give ten dollars to the woman who asks us for some money to ride the bus – and pat ourselves on the back as we ride home in our Mercedes.

G-d opens doors of opportunities to each one of us throughout our lives – many, many doors. I believe in fact that the doors of opportunities act similarly to a revolving door – again, and again, and again we have opportunities to be generous opened to us. If we choose to ignore them, we may see little difference as we maneuver from building to building, shop to shop, church to church. But when we finally choose to walk through one, using Selwyn Hughes’ own words, “…who knows what rivers will…flow, what great ministries will…come to birth, what mighty things will…get done?”

Let us pray: Dear G-d, generosity does not come easily when there is so much I want or need. Help me to see life through the lens of faith – through the generosity of your blessings toward me and the world – and help me to share with my neighbors from those blessings. Amen.

Pastor Dave